Visit a RCI apartment, bungalow in Calpe, Spain - Europe, during June, July and August.
Description of a route
The Old Town is beginning to attract more and more visitors because it is becoming a very interesting part of the town. There are Museums, picturesque little streets and squares and many bars and restaurants, most of them with a lively terrace, an ideal place to spend a pleasant summer evening.
Calpe will surprise you with its daring contrasts, where modern buildings and wide avenues harmonize with an ancient fishing village, where locals are proud of their past, yet welcome tourists and visitors with warm hearted hospitality.
The Forat de la Mar gateway (info) can be found in the Plaza de la Constituci�n and through it we reach Dos de Mayo street which takes us up a gentle hill to Plaza Miguel Rosell�. It is here that we see what is known as Torre�n de la Pe�a (info) reinforced by Calpe's ancielt walls. To the right and left you can admire Pierre Le Fleur's work in two of the murals which decorate the fa�ades of the old town which we can observe throughout the walk.
El Torre�n de la Pe�a, is a defence tower in which would have been sited "La Pe�a", a piece of artillery which defended de Christian town from the XV century onwards -hence its name. The sections of the tower are separated by stone mouldings that blend into the city walls. In 1947, in the front wall of the Torre�n a few metres of ground the shield of Calpe was uncovered, sculptured on a rough rectangular stone which is preserved in the provincial museum of Alicante.Out of the four cannons which were extracted from the port of Calpe, two of them can now be found next to Torre�n de la Pe�a. They are Swedish made and date back to the XVIII century.
In 1951 part of the wall near the north face of El Terre�n was knocked down, here there is now an arch linking the Torre�n square and La Villa square. In the summer, these squares are the scene of various cultural activities; theatre, dances, concerts and other events that liven up the evenings in the old town.
Passing under the arch, we will find on our left the Museum of Collections (info). It was inaugurated in September 1997 to house the private collections of the members of the Marina Alta Collectors Association. A little further on we find ourselves in the Plaza de la Villa, where the Parish Church of Nuestra Se�ora de Las Nieves (info) is situated. Its main features are the stained glass and mosaic murals which decorate its interior, and the church mosaic. This was inaugurated on the 22nd of October 1997, and shows us different incidents from the Old and New Testaments, as well as the pictures of the Cristo del Sudor and Virgen de las Nieves.
Attached to it, and serving as a chapel, is the Old Church (info), the only example of the Gothic-mudejar style in the community of Valencia. The city walls support the old church as well as the building within the walls.
This primitive fortress (XIV century) was transformed and is now the sacristy and the base of the belfry. It combined religious and defensive purposes and acted as a kind of protective bastion.As we come out of the church, on the left of the square we reach the Museum of Archeology (info). It was opened in April 1996 and consists of two exhibition floors arranged in chronological order from the III and VII centuries up to the present time.
Objects and ceramics, found during the latest archaeological excavations, are displayed in its showcases. They offer visitors a global vision of live in the surroundings of Els Banys de la Reina (The Queen's Baths).After the museum visit, climbing down the steps, you continue the route through the first street on the right, Torreones Street, narrow and cobbled, a prime example of the old town's charm. At the far end you can see yet another mural, this time the work of Fernando Vaquero. At the end of this street on the left we go down towards Mayor street which will take us on the right-hand side to square de Espa�a. From there, you see one of the most typical streets. Paternina, with its original colourful flower arrangements. Residents look after the plants all year round and they decorate the street during the local fiestas in August.
To the left in Jos� Antonio street, you can find the Festivals Museum (info). It displays a great variety of costumes from the different celebrations that takes place in Calpe, costumes of the different captains of the Moors and Christians dating from 1975, including the "Favoritas" and "First Ladies". These festivities take place in the month of October in honour of Santismo Cristo del Sudor. It also contains Calpe's typical costumes used during the Patron Saint festivities on the 5th of August in honour of the Virgin de las Nieves and the Fallas of San Jos� on the 19th Mars, with its "Ninots indultats", effigies that are saved from the burning flames.
Before reaching the end of the street, you can take a short cut to the left through a small street Mola, that takes you to Del Mosquit Square, where the Tourist and Residents Office -Tourist Info- is located. From this privileged spot you can admire two very different murals: one Mosaic (info), in the fa�ade of the tourist information office, is the work of Gast�n Castell�, the other, painted by Elias Urbez, is above the fountain of Del Mosquit Square.
A gentle climb through La Ermita street takes us to San Salvador square. Crossing over the Masnou avenue and up some steps you reach the Hermitage of San Salvador (info), a pleasant walk taking in some interesting views. Its name commemorates the reconquest of Calpe by James I on the 6th of August, the feast of San Salvador.
From this avantage point you can admire a beautiful panoramic view of Calpe, as well as Urbanizaci�n la Manzanera, with buildings designed by the architect Ricardo Bofill.
The Ermita is open to the public on San Salvador's day and at Easter.Once you have recovered your breath, you can climb back down to the Mosquit square where you can right to go down through Purisma street, at the end of which, after having passed the open-air summer cinema, you can see another beautiful mural, the work of Gerda Pasteur.
Continuing along, to our left we take Pedro Garcia Ortiz street, that will lead us to the Arrabel (info). This is the acient Moorish quarter framed by narrow steep streets with smaal white-washed houses, and decorated with floral arrangements and stones embedded in the pavements suggesting motifs characteristic of Calpe, amphorae, anchors, geometrical drawings, El Pe��n de Ifach, etc...As you walk to the end of the street, you can observe the charm of Pescadores, Puchalt, San Roque streets and right in front of Puchalt street you find an entrance to "Mariners Square" (info). This was inaugurated on the 16th of July 1997, the feast of the Virgin del Carmen next to the fishermen council building in honour of seafarers.
Through the itierary, we suggest that you stop at some of the typical bars and restaurants that you come across and taste the delightful local cooking "tapas", rice and stews, accompanied by good local wine and rounded off with a typical local dessert.
To complement this route, we invite you to observe some of the colourful decorated fa�ades in the Mediterranean style, as well as Mestre Francisco Llopis square, where it meets with Santisimo Cristo and San Jos� streets. This end the route.
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Calpe in Spain ,
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